Letters to the Editor
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Hail Mary?
Does Bush see war with Iran as his only remaining option to "salvage" his Presidency in the eyes of history?
If so, he has willing accomplices in the press, doesn't he?
Someone needs to go wake up the Senate.
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Michael Gordon
Its deja vu all over again; remember Judy Miller?, remember the way the Bush gang cleverly aligned the words "Saddam" and "9/11" in the same sentence?
Only the names have changed, now its Michael Gordon and Iran.
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Mixing Iran and Al-Qaeda
As a matter of journalism, point taken. As a matter of substance, I'm even more concerned about individuals mixing the Iranian-influenced bad actors in Iraq with Al-Qaeda in Iraq. The jingoists will do the following.
They'll say that Al-Qaeda is responsible for 9/11. True. Then they'll say that we are fighting Al-Qaeda in Iraq. Also true (although we all know there was little or no Iraq-Al Qaeda connection prior to the invasion in 2003). Then they'll talk about how Iranian-influenced fighters (or just Iran) are killing Americans in Iraq. Certainly true that Shia groups, who are at least influenced by Iran and have connections to Iran at one level or another are killing Americans in Iraq. But these Shia groups are not the same thing as Sunni Al-Qaeda in Iraq. They are fighting each other in the "civil war" you hear about. But the implication the jingoists will want the publict to have is that Iran was responsible for 9/11.
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They're Going To Do It
It's getting harder and harder to not believe that Bush and Cheney are going to attack Iran before they're done. I also gotta believe it will happen when it will have the greatest maximum impact on the 2008 elections. I'm guessing the attack will be launched in September, 2008. The one thing that might stop it is massive public and political pressure against it, but with journalists like Gordon doing their best to cheer them on, how is that going to happen?
The world will never forgive us.
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Enhanced interrogation techniques?
I wonder if the "Iranian agents" accusation was obtained through the use of "enhanced interrogation techniques"?
Typically, no mention was made of the method of the interrogation of Qais Khazali or Ali Musa Daqduq -- the source of the "intelligence" cited by Gen. Bergner and Mr. Gordon in his NYT article.
As those of us in the reality-based community understand, one may get any information desired -- true or not -- from the subjects of such interrogations, which is why they are virtually worthless except for providing a desired "confession."
Such confessions (and uncritical reporting of them) would be very useful for those eager for military action against Iran.
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It's roughly as credible as
Sy Hersch's claim to have proof that we are absolutely going to invade Iran. The problem with the 'media' Glenn is that it is ALL rumor. Some rumors you assert are facts and others you assert are lies. Why is it this automatically gets cast in the bucket of 'lies' and yet unsubstantiated secret sources that claim to mount proof that orbiting nuclear battle stations are poised to attack Iran are 'truth'?
And why would it be so far fetched as to leave completely the realm of the possible given the Iranians openly and proudly fund Hezbollah to the tune of 60-70 million dollars per month and in fact admit that they have a small spec ops military presence in Syria and Lebanon under the auspices of Hezbollah's command and control?
If the US had a credible and effective capability to mount 'dissident' actions in Iran, they would. Of course they would. That's what countries do. And no doubt that Iran has a strategic interest in destabilizing Iraq and creating some kind of rump Shiite state calved off from the whole. It only remains to have some form of deniability. Or are the people here so deluded as to believe that every country in the world but for the Great and Lesser Satans have unicorns and Phish concerts all day as they peacefully bless each other with peace and rock candy treats?
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Cheney's hand is playing Gordon
Perhaps the most explosive assertion I've read regarding Iran is this one:
Steve Clemons reported on his blog The Washington Note May 24 that an aide to Cheney has told gatherings at right-wing think tanks that Cheney is afraid Bush will not make the "right decision" on Iran and believes he must constrain the president's choices
Gordon's article appears little more than an exhibition of Cheney's treasonous attempt to "constrain the president's choices" by getting the wingnuts into a lather over Iran.
Articles like Gordon's are just a poorly disguised disinformation campaign instigated by the Office of the Vice President. I can't prove that, of course, but then it has never been proven that smoking causes lung cancer.
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Hey, no fair, journalists shouldn't have to do journalism too!!
It's hard enough for prominent journalists to do all these things like meet with publishers, lunch with inside sources, dine with politicians, read e-mails... They got a TON of stuff to do.
It's not fair for Glenn to also demand that people who work for the New York Times do actual journalism, you know, like, reporting stuff when you check the information and verify stuff?
The New York Times, after all, is a tiny, struggling, barely funded multi-billion dollar publication.
Maybe you and your fancy pants big shot "bloggers" with your champagne-fueled Bentleys might actually afford the time to read & think about stuff, but it's just not fair to demand that of the poor & beleaguered Times.
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Applied logic
The detainee is also suspected of recruiting Iraqis to fill the ranks of Iranian terror groups operating in Iraq, officials said
Following this marvelous sentence to it's inevitable conclusion, If Iraqi's are engaging in terror tactics within Iraq, it's because they are members of an Iranian terror group. The sick thing is that this kind of magical thinking actually works.
This of course also highlights why the Hate-R-Us crowd (Michelle and Ann and Jeff and John and to a lesser extent Jonah) need to work so hard to make sure that the 2-minute hate is directed at ALL Muslims. It simply would not do to actually apply effort into considering the possibility that there are any who AREN'T our mortal enemies and therefore deserving of death.